Lever operated firearm breech mechanism with a pivoted breech block



Sept. 1, 1970 c, GRECO ETAL 3,526,051

LEVER OPERATED FIREARM BREECH MECHANISM WITH 2 Sheets-Sheet l A PIVOTED BREECH BLOCK Filed Aug. 13, 1968 56 4 L my 4 7,2 7 75 3 6o El -Li- I NVENTOR CHARLES a. GRC0 WALTER 051,15

Sept. 1, 1910 Filed Aug. 13, 1968 c. G. GRECO ETAL 3,526,051 LEVER OPERATED FIREARM BREECH MECHANISM WITH A PIVOTED BREECH BLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheef 2 United States Patent 3,526,051 LEVER OPERATED FIREARM BREE'CH MECHA- NISM WITH A PIVOTED BREECH BLOCK Charles G. Greco, Wilbraham, Mass., and Walter Delis, Simsbury, Conn., assignors to Professional Industries, Inc., Agawam, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Aug. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 752,202 Int. Cl. F41c 11/04, 15/08, 15/14 US. Cl. 42-28 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND This invention relates to firearms. It particularly relates to firearms embodying a Martini-Type" action.

As will be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art, a Martini-Type action is one which employs a pivoted breech block. The pivoting movement of the breech block in this type of firearm is obtained by the operation of an action lever. In the case of most designs of this type of firearm, the linkages between the various parts are complex and therefore tend to cause jamming problems.

It is an object of this invention to provide a rugged, yet inexpensive Martini-Type breech mechanism.

It is another object of this invention to provide a simplified and reliable Martini-Type breech mechanism.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a unique ejector-extractor mechanism for use with a firearm having a Martini-Type action.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the breech mechanism of the present invention in a just-fired state;

FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1 but wherein the parts of the breech mechanism are in a shell ejection position;

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 1 but wherein the parts of the breech mechanism are in a load position; and

FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged sectional view of the ejector-extractor mechanism of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it will be seen that the breech mechanism of the present invention is comprised of a breech block pivotally mounted on a pin 12. The breech block 10 carries thereon, a firing pin 14, which is biased rearwardly by spring 16. As further shown, an arcuate loading and ejection surface or feed ramp 17 is located in the top of the breech block 10.

Action lever 18 is pivotally mounted on lever pin 20. A camming slot 22 is disposed at the inner end of said lever 18 and is designed so as to engage the cylindrical portion 24 of breech block 10 which extends downwardly from the underside of the breech block. As shown, biasing means in the form of one end of a torsion spring 26 is disposed about lever pin 20 in recess 28 of the action 3,526,051 Patented Sept. 1, 1970 lever 18. The other end of the torsion spring 26 is disposed in contact with the trigger .30 which is pivotally mounted on trigger pin 32. By this particular arrangement, the single torsion spring 26 effectively loads the trigger 30 and the action lever 18.

At the upper end of the trigger is a sear portion 34 disposed in contact with the lower end of hammer 36 mounted on hammer pin 38. The hammer 36 in turn is loaded by biasing means 40 which comprise a plunger 42 set into spring 44 carried by a spring well 43 in the rearward portion 47 forward of the stock 46.

It will be noted, that a safety notch or catch 48 and a cocking notch or catch 50 are disposed on the lower forward end of hammer 36 and are positioned so as to be releasably engageable with the sear 34 of trigger 30.

Slidably mounted in the underside of the breech end of barrel 52 is an ejector-extractor pin 54. This pin 54, which is biased rearwardly by spring 56, has a cartridge removing lip portion 58 and a loading edge 60 at its outermost end.

The ejector-extractor pin 54, is operated by an ejectorextractor lever 62 which is pivotally disposed beneath the ejector-extractor pin 54 on pin 64. As shown, the ejectorextractor lever 62 is biased upwardly by leaf spring 66, which has one end thereof disposed in notch 67. The ejector-extractor lever 62 has an ejector latch 68 which is adapted to extend into a latch slot 70 in the ejectorextractor pin 54. An extractor lip 72 is diposed to the rear of lever 62 and is adapted to extend into an extractor slot 74 also in the ejector-extractor pin 54. A trip finger 75 extends rearwardly beyond the breech end of barrel 52 so as to be engageable with the forward end of breech block 10 upon pivotal movement thereof.

Limit pin 76 extends into slot 78 of the ejector-extractor pin 54 so as to limit its travel to a maximum rearward loading position.

OPERATION The operation of the breech mechanism of the present invention may best be explained by first referring to FIG. 1. This view shows the breech mechanism just after a round has been expended so that an empty cartridge shell 0 is left in the chamber of the barrel 52. The hammer 36 is resting against the rear end of the breech block 10 and the trigger sear 34 is positioned above the safety catch or notch 48 of the hammer 36.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be seen that in order to remove the empty cartridge shell 0, the action lever 18 is moved in a clockwise direction against the bias of spring 26. The first few degrees of movement of the action lever 18, causes the lower rear edge of breech block 10 to pivot the hammer 36 in a clockwise direction.

As the action lever 18 is further moved in a clockwise direction, the breech block 10 is in turn pivoted in a counterclock'wise direction by the action of the camming slot 22 on the cylindrical portion 24 of the breech block. However, until the bottom front end of the breech block 10 strikes the trip finger 75 of the ejector-extractor lever 62, the ejector-extractor mechanism remains static. When contact between the breech block and the ejector-extractor lever 62 takes place, the ejector latch 68 disengages from the latch slot 70 in the ejector-extractor pin 54, and permits the spring 56 to impart a rapid movement to the ejector-extractor pin 54, whereby the cartridge removing lip 58 of the latter removes the cartridge 0 by exerting the energy of the released spring 56 on the rim of the cartridge 0. If for some reason, the empty cartridge c will not eject from the barrel chamber by the mere action of the spring 56 when the ejector latch 68 is removed from the latch slot 70, then while the ejector-extractor pin 54 is still in its spring-loaded position, the extractor lip 72 3 will be moved into interengagement with the forward wall of the extractor slot 74 so as to force the empty cartridge c from the chamber and place the pin 54 in an unloaded position.

Maximum angular displacement of the action lever 18, i.e., approximately 40-45 also positions the trigger sear 34 of trigger 30 intermediate the notches 4'8 and 50 on the hammer 36.

Turning now to FIG. 3, it will be seen that a release of the clockwise pressure on the action lever 18 allows the spring 26 to move the breech block 10 to a position 'where it abuts the loading edge 60 of the extended ejectorextractor pin 54. This action of the breech mechanism of the invention automatically aligns the feed ramp 17 of the breech block 10 with the chamber of the band 52 for rapid loading of a cartridge therein. It should be also noted that the same action positions the trigger sear 34 for engagement with the safety notch 48 on the hammer and permits the leaf spring 66 to bear the ejectorextractor lever 62 upwardly towards its original position.

Once a fresh cartridge is loaded into the chamber of the barrel 52, the action lever 18 is returned to its original position, thus rotating the breech block 10, which in turn earns the cartridge 0 and the ejector-extractor pin 54 to the positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

In order to fire the gun, the hammer 36 is hand cocked so that the trigger sear '34 engages the cocking notch 50. After this position has been obtained (as shown in phantom in FIG. 1), one need only pull the trigger 30 in order to disengage the trigger sear 34 from the cocking notch 50 and fire the round.

What is claimed is:

1. Breech mechanism for firearms comprising in combination a pivoted breech block, a pivoted action lever engaged with said breech block for pivoting same, a hammer movable in response to actuation of said breech block, a trigger having a portion thereof in contact with said hammer, ejector-extractor means disposed so as to be activated in response to pivotal movement of said breech block, and biasing means for said action lever and said trigger, said biasing means comprising a single torsion spring having one end thereof disposed in biasing contact with said action lever to urge same to a closed position and having the other end thereof in biasing contact with said trigger for urging same into contact with said hammer.

2. The breech mechanism of claim 1 wherein said ejector-extractor means comprises a spring loaded ejectorextractor pin having a latch slot and an extractor slot therein, and an ejector-extractor lever pivotally disposed below said ejector-extractor pin, said ejector-extractor lever having an extractor lip extending into said extractor slot, an ejector latch for releasably engaging said latch slot, and a trip finger engageable by said breech block for disengaging said ejector latch from said latch slot.

3. The breech mechanism of claim 1 wherein said action lever has a camming slot disposed at its inner end for engagement with said breech block for pivoting same, and a recess for holding said one end of said torsion spring for biasing said action lever.

4. In firearms having a pivoting breech block, an ejector-extractor mechanism comprising an ejector-extractor pin, a spring for biasing said 'ejector extractor pin from a spring-loaded position to an unloaded position, a latch slot and an extractor slot disposed in said ejectorextractor pin, and an ejector-extractor lever pivotally mounted below said ejector-extractor pin, said ejector-extractor lever having an extractor lip extending upwardly thereof into said extractor slot and interengageable with said ejector-extractor pin, an ejector latch extending upwardly thereof into said latch slot for releasable engagement therewith, and a trip finger engageable with said pivoting breech block for releasing said ejector latch from said latch slot and moving said extractor lip into interengagement with said ejector-extractor pin when said pin is in its spring-loaded position.

5. The ejector-extractor mechanism of claim 4 wherein said ejector-extractor pin when in said unloaded position is disposed so as to abut said pivoting breech block and thereby automatically position said breech block for loading a cartridge into said firearm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 35,947 7/ 1862 Peabody 4228 90,614 5/ 1869 Von Martini 4228 145,154 12/ 1873 Conroy 4228 690,568 1/ 1902 Elder 4247 1,790,482 1/ 1931 Mossberg 4228 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner C. T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 4246 

